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I spent a gorgeous May afternoon out on the sea ice on Frobisher Bay with Inukpak Outfitting founder Louis-Philip Pothier (the president, head guide and instructor) and his team of Canadian Inuit Dogs. (Jennifer Bain/Toronto Star)

“They work for me,” Pothier explains, “because I’m paying them in food and love and care.” He feeds them a mix of harp seals, caught by local Inuit hunters, fish heads and guts from a country food store in town, and kibble.
(Jennifer Bain/Toronto Star)

The Canadian Inuit Dogs weave left and right, changing positions and tangling their lines, running, walking, slacking off, goofing off, zigzagging and then giving it their all. (Jennifer Bain/Toronto Star)

Martine Dupont from Inukpak Outfitting took me on an Iqaluit city tour one day and was out two days later leading a snowmobile expedition. (Jennifer Bain/Toronto Star)

IQALUIT, NUNAVUT—Twelve-and-a-half Canadian Inuit Dogs are fanned out ahead of us racing across the sea ice on Frobisher Bay pulling us on a handmade Inuit sled called a qamutik. They’re weaving left and right, changing positions and tangling their lines, running, walking, slacking off, goofing off, zigzagging and then giving it their all. It works, though, because it’s a team effort led by an alpha male named Yeti. Oh and that half dog? He’s just a “teenager” named Atausiq and he’s in training. Mostly he’s trying to keep up with his mom Bonnie.

“Come on you big slackers, let’s go,” Louis-Philip Pothier lovingly chides the team on this snowy spring afternoon on Baffin Island in Nunavut, with temperatures hovering just above zero and almost daylong May sun. He and his wife Martine Dupont run Inukpak Outfitting. In winter, they dogsled, snowmobile, ice fish, kite board, backcountry ski and sometimes chase northern lights. In summer, they hike, sea kayak and canoe.

I’ve never been on Arctic sea ice before. It should be just like Ontario lake ice but it’s not. Sea ice is made from salt water and is flexible, so it rises and falls with the tides. It’s uneven, several feet thick, with pools of fresh water from melted snow on top.

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“On by,” Pothier shouts, the signal for the dogs to get back on “the trail,” although we’re technically following a direction to Qaummaarviit Territorial Park (which is an island) and not a “perfect trail.” He’s the real alpha here — not Yeti — and the pitch of his voice tells the dogs when they’re not doing their job (low) and when he wants them to get excited and run (high).

“G” means right and “ah” means left, whoa means stop (obviously) and down means sit or lie down. “They work for me,” Pothier explains, “because I’m paying them in food and love and care.” He feeds them a mix of harp seals, caught by local Inuit hunters, fish heads and guts from a country food store in town, and kibble.

There are about a dozen dog teams in town. Most of them winter on the sea ice at “the causeway” — the spot just past the city dump where people access the sea ice at low tide and where the owners look out for each other’s dogs.

Inukpak Outfitting founder Louis-Philip Pothier sets up the sled before attaching the dogs to the "fannage system."

We’re out for a leisurely 20-kilometre ride. Unlike the dog sleds I’ve been on in Ontario, I don’t have to stand on a small sled, steer and worry about crashing into trees. Pothier and I sit on a 16-foot sled on old sofa cushions wrapped in a plastic tarp. Sometimes he throws a gorgeous caribou hide on top but it’s too wet outside right now for that.

Pothier started Inukpak Outfitting in 2011 and draws a mix of Canadian, American and global guests. The bearded, six-foot-four Pothier goes by the nickname “inkukpak,” which means big man or giant person. He and Dupont are from Quebec and have called Nunavut home for 14 years.

The six-foot-four Inukpak Outfitting founder Louis-Philip Pothier (the president, head guide and instructor) goes by the nickname “inkukpak,” which means big man or giant person.

The day before dogsledding, I got an entirely different view of Nunavut from Iqaluit Helicopters. The new company hadn’t quite launched when I went up on a 45-minute flightseeing test run with a couple of tourism reps.

Pilot Stephane Caron showed us how the bright yellow chopper’s doors and seatbelts worked and where to find the shotgun, axe, saw, survival gear, first aid kit, satellite phone and food in case of an emergency landing. He told us, quite seriously, that if we crashed and he was unconscious, to pull him to safety and not leave him behind.

Northerners are as tough as they are candid (although technically he’s from Quebec).

The view of the Canadian Arctic tundra slays me. (Jennifer Bain)

We took off from Iqaluit International Airport and floated over the colourful city built on permafrost and slung along the shore of Frobisher Bay before soaring over snow-kissed tundra and rock, admiring the occasional cabin and various seals sunning themselves on the sea ice by their breathing holes.

It was my third time in a helicopter and I finally get why flightseeing has become so popular. You’re close enough to the ground to really see things, and the way that choppers lift up and float down is an unfamiliar thrill. Inukpak Outfitting and Iqaluit Heli-Charter hope to partner on some trips.

My stomach was clenched for the whole flight, not from fear but because seeing the Arctic literally took my breath away and I couldn’t bear for it to end. Nunavut Tourism’s Sara Tomson nailed it when she described her love of this northern Wild West.

“We’re still in Canada,” she said, “but it’s like ‘Wow. We’re in Canada.’ ”

Jennifer Bain’s trip was supported by Aeroplan, Booking.com and Nunavut Tourism, which didn’t review or approve this story.

When you go:

Get there: I flew from Toronto to Ottawa on Air Canada, and then Ottawa to Iqaluit on First Air, using 25,000 Aeroplan points. This will be an option on Air Canada and Star Alliance flights until June 2020. You must call the Aeroplan Contact Centre at 1-800-361-5373. Both First Air and Canadian North fly to Iqaluit. Aeroplan seats are very limited on each flight. A $30 telephone booking fee and other taxes/fees/surcharges apply.

Get around: You can walk around most of Iqaluit. Taxis are a flat rate of $7.

Get outdoors:Inukpak Outfitting (inukpakoutfitting.ca) typically offers dogsledding on the sea from December to June (and on the snowy land from October to March), but has a wide range of summer and winter outdoor activities plus Iqaluit city tours. If you book a tour plus flights, they can tap into reduced airfare rates. They can also set you up with hotels.

Get up in the air:Iqaluit Helicopters is a new company poised to offer sightseeing tours on an Astar 350B2 helicopter departing from Iqaluit airport. Details: iqaluithelicopters.com.

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